


Of Ravens And Wolves

by L363ND_W0LF



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2020-02-27 07:13:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18734188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L363ND_W0LF/pseuds/L363ND_W0LF
Summary: Every raven has its wolf. Garfield Logan is hers.A short collection of fluffy drabbles. Includes one-shots based on songs.





	1. I'll Be Your Wolf

“Why did they name you Raven?” 

Her fingers stopped tracing lazy patterns on his chest. He really shouldn’t have noticed, for her touch was featherlight and gentle, but with his enhanced senses, he did. 

“The monks called me that. They didn’t name me. I guess it kind of stuck, after being called that for seventeen years.” She resumed tracing the outlines of his muscular chest halfheartedly, and continued, “they called me ‘the raven’. To them, ravens were a creature of prophecy. The monks never quite told me if said creature of prophecy was good or bad, but I suspect that they believed it was bad.” 

A growl fought its way up his throat and she looked up at him, concerned. 

“You aren’t bad,” he insisted. 

Raven closed her eyes, knowing better than to argue with the topic of whether or not she was good or bad-aligned with her husband. It was one of the many traits that Garfield had. Yes, he was witty, charismatic, and a capable leader, but he was also stubborn. Once he was set on a goal or objective, he wouldn’t stray from it. 

“You…” he paused, thinking. “You’re like a raven. Dark and misunderstood. People think of you as a sign of evil or death, but those who really stop to get to know you, they can understand you. Once you can look past the outer shell of the bird, you can see it for what it really is—elegant and beautiful.” 

Garfield gingerly took Raven’s left hand in his own, his thumb rubbing against the diamond she wore on her ring finger. “And you know ravens mate for life.” 

She smiled, even though his eyes weren’t on hers, and gently ran her fingers over the tip of his pointed ear before placing it on the base of his neck. His lips met hers and she felt his bare chest press against hers. She could feel his emotions running wild and his heart beating double-time when she dipped her tongue into his mouth. 

The only reason the kiss was broken was the need for air, but Garfield opted to bury his face in her hair, breathing in the smell of her, while she rested her head on his shoulder. 

“I love you,” he whispered into her neck, his breath tickling her skin. “I just want you to know that, Raven.” 

“I know,” she replied, lifting her hand to cradle his face in her hands. “I love you too, Garfield.” 

He kissed the side of her neck, and slowly worked his way down her jawline, planting sweet kisses into the crook of her neck before he reached her lips once more. He could taste the salt and mint on her lips every time he kissed her, and he felt one of her hands against his chest in the way Raven knew that he liked. 

“Wolves and ravens depend on each other in the wild for survival,” Raven added softly, her lips brushing his. “The ravens find the food and when the wolves eat their prey, they share some with the ravens. Their relationship keeps them alive, in a way.” 

He was quiet for a few seconds, considering her words, before he propped himself up on his arm. His glittering emerald eyes met her amethyst irises in the darkness of their bedroom, in a way that reminded her of a cat’s eyes glowing in the dark. When he spoke, his voice was low and husky. 

“Then I’ll be your wolf.”


	2. The Only Exception

They say the people who raise you are the ones who leave a lasting impact on your life. 

This was exceptionally true for Raven. Her own parents weren’t fit to raise her the way they should have. Her mother could not love her the way she should have. Her father only spawned her so that he could rule her home dimension. 

She was often referred to by her father’s enemies and allies as the Daughter of Darkness, the daughter of pure evil. Even though she hated her father and was always there to oppose him, she still had demonic blood in her. She was damned because of her heritage. 

The monks raised her instead. They trained her to never feel because of her connection to her father due to her emotions. Her mother never forgot that Raven could suddenly snap one day, but she refused to believe that she was her father’s daughter 

She was seen as just a means to an end. It was what their purpose was, so it might as well have been hers as well. They drilled it into her that as a half-demon spawn, she could not and would not be loved. The worst part about her teachings was that she believed them. She had believed that she was incapable of feeling any emotions and that she had no other purpose than to destroy Trigon. 

That was until Garfield Logan came along. 

As she laid on his body, her head on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around her small body, she watched him as he slept. He looked years younger than he actually was, but there was no doubt that her fiancée was undeniably handsome. She could see the tip of his lower canine poking out from underneath his lip, and the smooth features of his face. He wore a peaceful look on his face, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, and his hair fell adorably on his forehead. 

He was half-naked, only wearing a pair of shorts, but Raven didn’t mind. It was one of her guilty pleasures—she would often trace the outlines of his muscles while he slept. Years of grueling physical labor as part of the Titans shaped his body until he was in peak physical condition. She liked how the individual muscles would jolt at her touch—Raven knew it was selfish to say that she never wanted another woman to touch Garfield the way she did, but he was hers. It was as simple as that. 

He stirred from his sleep and she received the pleasure of watching his vibrant green eyes open, reflecting the moonlight that shined in from their window, giving the illusion that they were glowing. 

“Hey,” he mumbled, voice scratchy from sleep. 

Raven smiled to herself and crawled on top of his body so that she was straddling his waist, placing her open hands on both sides of his chest to keep herself steady. 

“Hey yourself,” she replied softly. 

His eyes closed, but he was still awake. “What’s wrong?” 

She cocked her head to the side slightly. “What do you mean?” 

“I can smell your pheromones. A slight hint of fear as well.” He paused, opening his eyes to look at her. “It’s just an infiltration mission, Rave. They can’t catch what they can’t see. Dick already went over it. I’ll turn into a lizard—they won’t know the difference.” 

Raven sighed. “I know,” she said quietly. “But…this is the Brotherhood of Evil that we are talking about. If they find you, you know what they’ll do to you.” 

Garfield reached forward and touched the side of her face soothingly. “I know. But this is what we face every day. We didn’t sign up to be like this, but I don’t want to sit on the sidelines and watch as they kill all those people. I have to go in and find out what they’re planning.” 

Raven nodded, his touch lulling and comforting to her. “I understand why you have to go. But that doesn’t mean I like it.” 

“Shhh,” he said softly. “It’s okay. I’ll just be there for a little while, I promise. I’ll be careful. Just rest. You spent a lot of energy today fighting the Brotherhood.” 

Raven could feel the thralls of sleep starting to fall upon her, so she rolled off of his body, nestling into his shoulder for comfort. She cupped his face in her hand and kissed him slowly and softly, like she was trying to commit the feel of his lips to memory. 

“Stay with me,” she pleaded. “Just for a little longer.” 

Garfield held her closer to his body, slinging his arm across her waist. 

“I will,” he whispered against her skin. “I promise.”


	3. Dysfunctional

She knew what was going to happen before it did. 

It was always dangerous, going out into the world, venturing out from the tower that was like a second home to her. But more than that, when they did have to leave the safety of the tower, it was because there was a threat in the city. 

It was a new world, ever since the protests began. Some thought they relied on heroes too much, others hated them because they couldn’t match their strength or speed, while a small handful were appreciative of them. 

But even then, their worst enemy was the metas that turned that hate into action. 

The world seemed to slow down around her as she saw the fist start to connect with his body. She was too far away to stop it from hitting its target, but it didn’t matter anyway. Her limbs were glued to the ground as if she were dreaming, and for once, she wished that it was just a dream, and not a terrifying reality. 

At least he could console her when she woke up from a dream. 

His body was sent flying backwards from his assailant, hitting a concrete wall at top speed, enough for him to topple the wall and send five hundred pounds of rock on top of his body. As soon as the last rock fell, her world sped up again. 

Cyborg was there in an instant, tossing pieces of concrete out of the way in a frantic attempt to find Garfield buried underneath the rubble. Raven was at his side seconds later, and when Victor tossed aside a piece of concrete that was covered in a dark red liquid, she choked out a small sob. 

Her vision blurry, Raven almost didn’t realize that Vic had uncovered his body until he swore loudly. Wiping away the tears with the back of her hand, she almost fainted at the sight of him. 

Blood was everywhere. It poured down the side of his face from a wound on his head, and from his shoulder, where a steel bar had pierced the skin all the way through. His tibia bone had snapped, a part of it jutting out from the skin in a horrifying sight that Raven was sure she would never forget. His breathing was shallow and labored, indicating a possible collapsed lung. 

It was clear that Garfield Logan was dying. 

“Can you ’port us to the hospital?” Vic asked, his expression grave. “We don’t have the tools I suspect we need to save his life.” 

Raven nodded, and gripped both Gar and Vic’s hand as she teleported the three of them to the nearest hospital. While the people froze at the sudden appearance of them, Vic acted quickly, picking up his best friend’s limp body and placing him on a gurney. 

“This man needs help!” Vic shouted. “He’s bleeding out!” 

A bunch of nurses snapped into action and yelled at people to get out of the way as they wheeled her husband down the hallway to the ICU. Raven never let go of his hand, and when he groaned in pain next to her, she lightly squeezed his hand in comfort. 

The nurses wouldn’t let her in the room where they were operating on Gar, even though she was part of his only family. Instead, both her and Vic were forced to watch the scene play out above the room on the hospital’s equivalent of a skybox. One by one the other team members arrived, taking their place behind the window separating Gar from them. None of them spoke. They didn’t have to—they knew he was dying. 

Raven watched, numb, as the doctors attempted to patch Gar up. When they pulled the steel bar out of his shoulder and reset his tibia, Raven could hear his screams as if she was standing in the room with him. 

Then his heart monitor flatlined. 

The doctor wasted no time as he pulled out the defibrillator and placed it over Gar’s heart and activated the machine. Gar’s body jerked as they sent a pulse through his chest, and Raven could almost hear him saying “again!” as the first round of resuscitation failed. 

On the third try, the heart monitor began to beep again. 

Raven let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. The bleeding had stopped when his heart did, so the next thing the doctor did was stitch up the gaping wound in his shoulder and the gash on the side of his head. Within ten minutes, the gurney was wheeled away. Five more agonizingly long minutes passed before the doctor entered the viewing room. 

“Raven? He’s ready to see you now.” 

She followed the doctor to a small hospital room, where several nurses were changing his IV drip and hooking him up to a heart monitor. As the nurses vacated the room, Raven found herself standing in the room, listening to the steady beeping that kept time with the beating of his heart. 

“Hey,” Gar said, breaking the silence. 

Raven strode across the room in three paces and nearly launched herself in his arms. He protested a little, since his shoulder was still a bit tender, but gave in and returned the embrace. Raven placed the side of her head over his heart as if to make sure that it was real, that he was still alive. 

Knowing what she was thinking, Gar said, “it’ll take more than a brick wall and steel bar to kill me, Rave. It’s okay.” 

Her breath hitched and she let out another sob into his chest. 

“It’s not okay!” Raven shouted. “Your heart stopped! What if Victor hadn’t acted as fast as he did? What if the bar went through your heart? What if you drowned in your own blood? What if the doctor hesitated to put electricity in your body? You died, Garfield!” 

In a rare bout of hysteria, coming from Raven, who was usually so calm, she broke down into tears as all the what-ifs ran through her head. She clutched at his hospital gown desperately as she managed to force out words. 

“I can’t lose you, I can’t, I don’t know what I would do if I lost you…” she cried. “I love you too much…” 

Gar wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her hair, smelling the fear on her. He hated doing that; hated almost dying in her arms, hated having to watch her emotions getting the best of her. Even though he was the one who laid on the gurney and had to have his bone reset and a metal bar pulled out of his shoulder, he knew that Raven would be the one that would hurt more than he did. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to keep on scaring you like that,” Gar mumbled. 

“It’s not your fault,” she replied, her breaths becoming more even as she calmed down. “I should be the one apologizing, I shouldn’t be getting like this and losing control so easily, especially in a public place.” 

“Then we’re both sorry,” Gar said. “But it’s okay, it really is. I’m okay. Right now that’s all that matters. I promise you that, Raven.”


	4. Broken

He hated himself. 

It was one of those days that everything reminded him of her. He couldn’t stop thinking of her—her smile, the feel of her velvety skin, the taste of her lips, the sound of her laugh. It echoed through the very fiber of his being, haunting him with memories that he wanted to forget but couldn’t. 

He couldn’t stop thinking about the Daughter of Darkness. 

He knew it was his fault that they even went their seperate ways. The stress took its toll on their relationship and he couldn’t hold it up the way he wished he could. 

He heard the door open and he whirled around, anxious. He found Cliff standing in the doorway, looking as hesitant as a robotic body housing a human brain could look. 

“One of those days, eh?” Cliff asked. 

Gar dropped his gaze and nodded solemnly. “I-I just—everything reminds me of her.” 

Cliff slowly bobbed his head. “I’ll leave you to it, green bean.” 

The door shut behind Cliff and when Gar was certain that he left, he lifted up the mattress of his bed and pulled out a small Polaroid photograph of the dark beauty that had been haunting him for months. 

He wished he could make her forget the heartbreak that he caused. But of course he couldn’t, and he was going to have to live with that for the rest of his life. That he broke her heart just like Forrester did. In that case, he was no better than him. 

He wanted nothing more than to run back to her and fall to his knees, begging her to take him back. But the rational part of his mind knew that to do that was stupid. 

She probably hated him now. 

\---------------------------------------- 

Raven sat on the edge of the bed in the empty room and tried not to think of the shapeshifter that had been on her mind ever since rejoining the team. She had been hesitant to even join in the first place, since the Tower was full of memories she didn’t know if she was ready to face yet, but with Vic awake, she relented. 

She loved him. The confession still alarmed her, and not only for the reason that she was raised to be devoid of any emotion. He may have broken her heart when he told her that they should probably stop seeing each other, but she still loved him. 

She would never admit it to Vic, but she wished that Garfield would come back. Perhaps then they could try to pick up the pieces of their romance. He really was good to her—being with him stole her fears away until they were nothing more than a mild concern. 

The team was whole again. He should have known; they visited the Doom Patrol in England for help against the Brotherhood. His best friend had woken from a year-long coma. So why didn’t he come back? 

If only she had told him how she felt. But it was too late now to tell Gar that she loved him. 

He probably hated her now. 

\---------------------------------------- 

They sat there on the edge of their bed, broken heart in their hand, knowing they should move on with their lives. But they still secretly loved each other despite the breaking off of the relationship. It was nearly impossible to stop thinking about the other. They both knew that the other held the second half of their heart, sitting there, waiting for the taking, but the false assumption that the other didn’t return their feelings prevented them from running back into each other’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place right around the time that Raven rejoined the team after being on the run, at about Teen Titans issue number 41. Gar had quit the team and joined the latest incarnation of the Doom Patrol during the One Year Later story arc, a year after the Infinite Crisis, a universal battle that saw many heroes killed and many others missing. Cyborg was on a mission in space that put him in a coma for the rest of the year, and Gar led the team with Raven, though the stress of leading a bunch of rowdy teenagers eventually took its toll on their relationship. 
> 
> Based on the song “Broken” by Seether and Amy Lee.


	5. The Dark Is More Forgiving Than The Light

Did it break her heart to see them together? 

Of course it did. But she of all people knew that love was unpredictable and spontaneous. It was the driving point of the human species. 

But of course, she wasn’t just a human. The eternal fires of Hell ran in her veins. She was born to destroy the world—wherever she went, eventually that world would be destroyed for her father to rule over. 

Perhaps that was why she was better for him. Of course, she may have been misguided, but at least she wasn’t fated to trail destruction in her wake. 

No. Scratch that, she did. She just wasn’t born to obliterate every single living thing in existence. 

But she still wanted to be with him. Despite the fact that if they were ever to be together, it would be nothing but star-crossed. 

So she stored the feeling in the back of her mind, never letting it come to the surface. It might be breaking her heart, but his happiness was more important than hers. 

Even though she cried herself to sleep every single night knowing that she could never have him. Even though the knife in her heart twisted just a little bit more every time she saw them together. Even though she longed for something more than just friendship. 

A part of her, deep down, knew that he would never be happy, never be satisfied with what he had now. And so she left him the key to her heart, left her door open for him, let him know that whenever he wanted something more than what he had with Terra, she was waiting in the shadows for him. 

Waiting for the day that he realized what he wanted was the darkness to his light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am the God of Angst. No contest. 
> 
> Based on the animated series.


	6. Home In His Arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t care what you say, I do love me some good ’ol kissing in the rain scenes.

There were over one hundred rooms in the Tower. 

Such a big space called for many places to go when one was looking for something to do. 

Dying in the heat? The pool can go down to 60°F. Freezing your ass off? Hot tub. Want to punch things? Dick’s got several dummies in the gym. Want to feel like a kid again? There’s an Xbox in the living room. Want to tinker on Dick’s motorcycle? Don’t let him see you in the garage. 

Even with all the rooms meant for entertainment, however, there was one place on the island that couldn’t compare to any other room. 

Raven sat on the edge of the roof, facing the water and watching the sun begin to sink down towards the horizon. She had gotten better at controlling the emotional feedback of other people ever since returning from her pilgrimage to the ruins of Azarath and recovering several books that survived the annihilation of the once-great dimension. She could now control whose emotions to feel. Nevertheless, she still sensed the mass of people that lay just across the New York Harbor, but she was not overrun by their emotions. 

If only she could say the same about herself. 

She felt his presence before she even realized he was there. He joined her at the edge of the tower and sat down next to her, quietly taking her hand in his. 

Impulsively, she leaned against his body, her head falling onto his shoulder. His left arm wound itself around her waist and pulled her closer to him as he kissed her temple. 

Anxiety poured off of him in waves, and she could taste a little bit of fear as well. She knew what he came there for, but she did not give him an answer. 

“I know you want it,” Garfield said to her quietly. “You can’t deny it, Raven. It’s what you want.” 

“The safety of those around me is more important than what I want,” Raven answered. “You know why I cannot do so.” 

“Raven…” he sighed. “That’s why you were in Azarath for two months trying to figure out how to restrain the connection between your powers and your emotions. Isn’t this supposed to be the next step?” 

“Garfield…” 

He stood up abruptly. “No, Raven. Don’t push me away again. We promised each other that we wouldn’t hold anything back when it came to us. No secrets.” 

“I was not keeping any secrets—” 

“And even if you were, Raven, at least I could—you know, it really isn’t fair. You get to read my emotions and know how I feel, but when I try to get you to open up to me, you shut down. You can’t keep pushing me away like this.” 

He wiped at his eyes with his hands and continued. “Raven, I know you love me, you say as much every day. But sometimes I wonder if I’m good enough for you. If maybe you were always out of my league. And maybe it’s the little boy that’s still stuck on the river. Maybe it’s the scrawny teenager that had nothing to lose anyway. Maybe it’s the heartbreaker who doesn’t want his own heart to be thrown out the window. Or maybe it’s all of them saying that I can’t live without you.” 

Silence fell on them both; neither knew what to say next. Garfield knew that she was emotionally unstable; Raven knew that he was fragile. She knew that he loved her, and that she did love him back, but it didn’t fix the fact that she could be painting a target on his back if she said what he wanted to hear. But at the same time, she knew that she was the master of his heart. If she said the wrong thing, his heart would shatter into a billion pieces and never heal. 

It was hard enough for the entire team to help him pick up the pieces after Terra. 

Raven stood and turned to face him. Tears ran down his face in a rare moment of weakness and she suddenly flashed back to that day twenty years ago, where the course of his entire life would change. 

She needed to tell him. 

“Garfield…” 

“If you’re going to break my heart, Raven, you better do it quickly,” he said, voice shaking. 

Thunder boomed in the distance and it started to rain all around them. 

She stepped forward, taking his face in her hands, and kissed him, hard. Raven could taste the salt of his tears mixing with the rain, and even though the rain was cold and chilled her to the bone, she pressed closer to his body and the warmth he gave off. Her fingers combed through his soaking wet hair that was starting to stick to his forehead as his arms wound around her body like a cage. 

Finally, when she pulled away from him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, touched her forehead to his, and whispered, “yes.” 

“Yes what?” Garfield asked, slightly out of breath. 

A smile started to creep onto Raven’s lips. “I will marry you.”


	7. Night Thoughts

He could never understand why the young ones wanted the ability to stop time. 

The truth of the matter was that it was a pointless ability. Why bother stopping the flow of time if you were not able to move, he always asked, and they always said that you wouldn’t, because the time stop wouldn’t apply to the user. He would always fix them with a doubtful stare before changing the subject on them. The one thing keeping the new recruits from badgering him about time travel paradox, even though he was no chronomancer, was respect for the elder Titan. 

But times like those…times when she was facing him with his arms wrapped around her slim waist…times when he would bury his face in her hair and breathe in her unique scent…times when he would continue to proclaim his undying love for her into the wee hours of the night, those were the times he wished that he could stop time, because then he could live in a world where she could never be closer to him. He could just live in the moment with her in his arms, and feed on the love projecting from them both. 

Raven stirred gently in his arms, nuzzling herself deeper into him, and murmured into his chest, “you are doing quite a lot of thinking over there.” 

Garfield said nothing in return, instead briefly touching his lips to the gem on her forehead before leaving a small kiss on the top of her head. 

She was quiet for a moment, but judging from the pattern of her breathing, he could tell that she was still awake. 

Then, in a voice so soft that he could barely hear her, she asked, “why?” 

Gar pulled away from her enough to stare into her violet irises. “Why what?” 

“Why were we meant to be together? Everything about us points to the fact that we are soulmates — from your mating imprint to the fact that my empathy draws myself to you; even Arella told me in a dream once that we are soulmates. But we are so different in terms of personality. So why? Why are we meant to be together?” 

Gar paused, letting her words sink into him, before propping himself up on one arm to get a better view of his wife. The sheets covering his half-naked body fell away, revealing the toned muscles of his chest. He caught the slight hint of a blush on her face before she averted her eyes, but pretended not to notice. 

“The same reason why magnets will only attach if their north pole matches up with their south pole. The same reason why people believe in the ting and the yang. The same reason why despite our differences, neither of us can deny the feelings we have in our hearts for each other. Soulmates, yes, but I’m not with you because the universe paired us together for a reason. I’m with you because I love you and nobody’s going to change that. Not Dick, not Trigon, not even Fate itself. I will travel into dimensions unknown, move entire mountain ranges, whatever it takes to prove that I am worthy of being with you.” He nuzzled the juncture where her shoulder met her neck, right at the two small teeth marks that he left on her long ago. 

“You never have to be afraid of what tomorrow will bring. You never will have to constantly look over your shoulder for threats. I won’t let anything happen to you. That was — and still is — a promise that I intend to keep for the rest of eternity.” 

Her hand snaked across the bed and entwined her fingers with his; her velvet-like skin brushing the calloused skin of his hands, built over the years of crime-fighting. 

“I expected the answer to be almost like that,” she whispered. “You are and always have been good with your tongue.” 

“Figuratively or literally?” Gar asked, raising an eyebrow at the implication. 

The moonlight streaming in from the window barely showed the way her face flushed at the suggestion, and she stammered on her words, something Raven almost never did. “Well…I…figuratively?” She asked. 

Garfield smiled, his perfect white teeth flashing in the darkness. His other hand moved down her hip and stopped at her thigh, and he let out a soft chuckle at the flustered look on her face. 

“I’m just teasing you,” he assured her. 

She leaned into his touch, a small sigh escaping her lips as she gently ran her fingers through his soft hair. She could barely hear the purr that emerged from her husband’s throat, and placed the side of her head in the middle of his chest, the sound of his steady heartbeat in her ear. Gar kissed the chakra stone at the top of her forehead and she squirmed closer to him, pressing her body against his. 

Her fingers were still in his hair when her breathing turned even, telling Gar that she had fallen asleep, curled into the side of his body. He smiled and whispered the three words they were used to trading in the middle of the night, when insomnia would get the better of their desire to sleep in her ear. 

“I love you,” Garfield whispered. 

His arms wound tighter around her waist, pulling her closer to his body and the heat he gave off, before he let his heavy eyelids close. 

He didn’t have the ability to stop time. 

But the timeless moments they shared together were enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this in mind when I was thinking about a similar scene from the Catching Fire book, the second in the Hunger Games series. This takes place waaaaay after the events of Keep Me In Your Memory, so headcanon that as a new generation of young heroes started to come out into the world, Gar and Raven would be hand-picked by Nightwing to be the co-leaders of a new batch of Teen Titans.
> 
>  
> 
> It made sense that the team members would suffer from insomnia, considering everything they’ve been through, but the only difference in the way the team deals with it is that Gar and Raven have each other to help lull to sleep. I imagine that Gar’s body temperature is higher than a normal human’s, so he would run like a furnace, while Raven, being a half-demon, would be like a freezer. Plus I can’t get the image of Gar turning into like, a snow leopard or something just to keep her warm out of my head, it’d look so adorable.
> 
>  
> 
> I’m thinking of taking requests — if you have an idea for a drabble, leave your thoughts in the comments and I’ll see what I can do!
> 
>  
> 
> (My universe’s Garfield is such a sweetheart, I’m fangirling, heeeelp)


	8. Whiteout

If she had a choice, she would have asked to be somewhere else, anywhere rather than here. 

But of course she didn’t have a choice. Nobody did. The ranks were thinned out, everyone else doing several different things across the world. She was needed here, and so she was placed here. This war was going to end, one way or another. 

She’d much rather prefer that it ended sooner. With them as the victor. She was needed here, in the Arctic, to keep tabs on one of the Society’s “hidden” bases, despite Richard knowing that she wasn’t accustomed to cold climates. 

“You should come inside soon,” a voice said behind her. “The storm’s supposed to hit in about thirty minutes.” 

“I’ll come back in a little bit,” she replied. 

Victor sighed. “I got the fire heated up in the cave. Some soup, too, if you’re hungry.” Snow crunched under his metal feet as he turned away, heading back into the nearby cave that they took shelter in. 

Raven withdrew a small photograph from the pocket of her coat, staring down at the faces in it. He had a wide, goofy grin on his face, with an arm slung carelessly across her shoulder, and she had the small ghost of a smile on hers. She ran the pad of her thumb over the film. 

She wished she was there, with him, in the Amazon. Of course, he was there simply because he was fit enough for the job, but it still worried her that he was deep in the jungle, alone, with help thousands of miles away. She tucked the picture back into her coat and headed inside the cave, joining Vic near the fire. 

Food sources were scarce here, and at temperatures as low as they were, no animal in their right mind would be outside in the frigid snow. So instead, the team flew them in with a few crates full of everything they needed — firewood, non-perishables, water, a pot, and a lighter, among other things. 

She wished that Richard had packed her tea. 

Vic had the soup pot hovering over the flames of the fire. While he didn’t require food as much as she did, only his ration-like “protein paste” and a recharge every so often, the same couldn’t be said for Raven. 

She ate the soup in silence, Vic sitting across from her and leaning on the wall, before her companion spoke up. 

“I have some news for you. I was able to contact Dick earlier today. He said that he has a different assignment for me. He’s going to come by later with some more food for a few more days, pick me up, and drop off someone else to take my place. When I asked him, he said that he’d pack some of your tea, enough to last for the rest of the three days here.” 

Raven nodded. “Any update with Garfield? Is he okay?” 

“Dick said that he’s almost done with his mission. He’s doing fine, had a scare when he came into contact with an anaconda, but he’s okay. Dick was right, he was made for the jungle.” 

“He was made for everything,” she added. “If he was here, he wouldn’t even need to sit by the fire. He would just turn into a…a polar bear or something.” 

Vic let out a small chuckle. “He’s like your celebrity crush.” 

Raven shot him a look. “Not quite, Victor. The seven thousand dollar, ten gram ring on my finger says that he is more than just a ‘celebrity crush.’” 

Vic laughed. “What is on that thing? A purple diamond or something?” 

Raven looked down, suddenly shy at the mention of a subject of both her and Gar’s marriage. “Actually, it’s a 925 silver ring with small diamonds embedded on the side, with a half emerald, half amethyst replacing the traditional diamond, with the word “wolf” engraved on the inside of the ring in calligraphy,” she said quietly. 

“Fancy,” Vic said. 

“Yeah.” 

They sat in silence for longer until Vic suddenly raised his head in alarm. He stood up and said, “I think our boy’s here.” At her questioning look, he added, “I can hear the engine.” 

They walked out of the cave together to find a silver plane start to touch down a few meters away, the engines emitting a low hum while on stealth mode as to not alert the enemy to either of their prescience on the mountaintop. The loading bay hatch started to lower, revealing a man standing in front of the descending door, dressed in black and red, holding a small crate in his arms. 

Nightwing started down the hatch and shouted a greeting to the two senior Titans over the sound of the howling winds. Raven followed him into the cave while Vic ducked into the plane to help unload the few crates. 

“How are you doing, Raven?” Her leader asked. 

“Getting by. Barely,” she answered. “Why anyone would want to live here is beside me.” 

Dick laughed, setting the box on the ground. “Well, look on the bright side. You only have four more days left here, and then I’ll probably have to send you somewhere else. No more colder climates, I promise. I just didn’t have much choice; not a lot of people were available to take this post.” 

“I know, but it’s just really miserable here. How did the Society even build a base here?” 

He shrugged, standing up again. “How did we build a fifteen story tower shaped like a T?” He countered, pausing before he continued. “I understand that Vic told you that we were coming?” 

“Yes. He told me that he was needed elsewhere, and that you would come by to restock, pick him up, and drop someone else off here to take his place.” 

“Right,” he said, looking up as Vic entered the cave, holding another crate in his arms. Sitting on his shoulder was what looked to be a snowy owl, but the color of its feathers were almost exclusively green. 

The wide green eyes of the bird focused on her, and he flew off of the cyborg’s body, changing shape in midair. The graceful wings of the raptor began to elongate while its little legs and body grew in size. The unique features of the owl’s face began to recede, its beak and wide eyes shrinking, as the feathers on its body disappeared. The entire transformation took less than a second to transpire, and as quickly as the bird had leaped off the metal man’s shoulder, a human male took its place. 

The man stood six feet and five inches tall, with a lean build. His skin was unnaturally green, as was his hair and his startling cat-like eyes. He was clad in a purple and white uniform, wore black steel-toed combat boots, and purple-colored Kevlar around his collar, sides, waist, and sleeves. His ears ended at the top with a tip resembling that of a forest elf’s, and his hair was spiky and long enough to cover his eyes. 

Raven threw herself at the newcomer, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a crushing hug. Surprised by the sudden action, the young man stumbled backwards a few steps, but was able to regain his footing and returned the hug. The woman in his arms was short enough compared to him that he could rest his chin on the top of her head, looking over her shoulder to flash a look at Dick, still standing exactly where he was when Vic and his companion came in. Both he and Vic left the cave to leave the couple to themselves. 

“I was worried about you,” Raven whispered in his chest when she was certain they were out of earshot. 

“Geez, Rave, I’ve only been gone for ten days,” he protested lightheartedly. “Or did you miss me that much?” 

“I had reason to worry, you were alone in the Amazon. If you were injured or, Azar forbid, dying, it would be hours, days at the most, before help could arrive,” she said, stepping back to look at him. 

“You don’t give me much credit,” he answered. “I’m green. So is eighty percent of my surroundings. If a poisonous snake bites me, I could turn into an animal that’s immune to it. If I was being attacked by a jaguar, I could turn into a gorilla. All that’s there is animals. My only mission was to investigate a lead on the Society there. I mean, there is such a thing as animals who are naturally green. Mostly reptiles, but the Opheodrys aestivus isn’t that hard.” 

“The what?” 

Gar laughed, the sound like music to the empath‘s ears. “Rough green snake. I mean, they’re not native to South America, but hey, it’s green, I’m green, no big deal.” 

Raven was about to come back with a witty response, but a round of shivers cut her off. Gar looked behind him to find the fire starting to die off, and he moved to the crate that held the firewood, throwing a log onto the dying flames. 

“Did you eat?” He asked softly. 

She nodded, and Gar silently cursed Dick for sending her to a frozen climate despite knowing that her temperature ran cooler than most people. He scooped her up in his arms and reclined against the wall closest to the fire, holding her close to him before he changed into the fluffiest animal he could think of. 

Raven felt his body shift from behind her and looked up to find the face of a green snow leopard staring back at her. She reached back and began scratching the big cat who had replaced her husband’s form behind the ears, and he began to purr loudly. His tail thumped against the stone floor of the cave, and he wrapped it around her body. He had altered the transformation so that he was bigger than a regular snow leopard and so that Raven could easily tuck herself against him. 

“Thank you, Gar,” she said. The snow leopard that was her husband tilted his head to the side and licked her cheek gently enough to not draw blood. Raven felt her eyelids begin to grow heavy with the warmth of both Gar’s body heat, the fire, and his thick coat of fur. He moved his front leg so that the paw was directly on her waist, pulling her closer to him. 

She fell asleep to the sound of his gentle purring in her ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize (not) for overriding your heart with immense fluff. Honestly, the more I write Gar, the more I feel the need to prove how much of an absolute sweetheart he is.
> 
> EDIT: Also oh my god, this is passing KMIYM in bookmarks and hits, thanks you guys! Your support is appreciated!


	9. Those Three Words

His touch is soothing for someone who has spent years fighting against the very forces of evil. 

His eyes appear to give off their own light in the midst of the room’s darkness. 

His voice, low and teasing, is like the deaf experiencing music for the first time. 

There is strength in this man, not only physical but emotional. Hope burns brightly in his soul, hope for the future. Passion and affection drives his most basic actions. He is almost never angry, but when he is, his anger is raw and powerful, always directed towards those who hurt the people closest to him. The kind of casual disregard for his own life in exchange for the safety of loved ones is something only the dreamer could ever imagine. 

There are many ways this man can love. 

There are fewer who experience this love firsthand. 

I am one of those people. 

OoOoOoO 

Have you ever felt like you were untouchable? That no one and nothing could harm you? That you could walk through all Nine Hells and emerge from the other side unscathed, unburned, and still sane? 

That is what it feels like to be in Garfield’s arms. 

Today had started off fine enough, until the call came in. There was a large fire that involved several apartments across the city. The team had to split up, and even though I was paired with Garfield and felt relatively safe with him at my side, it was still risky going into the burning building looking for any remaining people trapped within. 

I was ignorant. Careless, even. Because when I used my powers to move a pillar out of the way, another one fell and trapped me under the beam. The impact knocked me out, and by the time Garfield found me and carried me out of the building, I had been unconscious for seven minutes. Luckily, I was low to the ground, so I hadn’t inhaled the smoke, but I did lose the use of my legs for a little while until one of the broken bones was reset. 

I can feel the shame, anger, and self-loathing radiating from him across the bed — as upset as he is, putting up a mental barrier to keep me from feeling his emotions is difficult. Trying to comfort him, I wrap my arms around his lower chest and place my cheek against his back. 

“Garfield, it’s not your fault,” I tell him for the thirtieth time. “Accidents happen. You are not to blame.” 

He doesn’t answer, but he does reach down and take my hand in his. I take this as a good thing and continue. 

“You are an amazing person, Garfield. A broken leg won’t change that. Can’t change that. You are sweet, loving, caring, thoughtful…” 

“Then why did I think that splitting up was the best idea?” He growled. 

“Oh, Garfield,” I murmur into his back. “You can’t keep blaming yourself for every little thing that goes wrong. I’m alive. That should be all that matters.” I move my head to his shoulder and touch my lips to his cheek. 

He sighs. “I guess that all those years of people telling me it was my fault that everyone who gets close to me dies started to rub off on me.” 

I nuzzle deeper into him, inhaling his scent of pine needles and fresh rain. “Yes. It is not your fault. It is natural; death. You cannot change it.” 

He turns in my arms, ending the embrace, but puts his hand underneath my chin, searching my eyes. “I know I can’t. But I don’t think I could live with myself if my recklessness or my inability to arrive on time ended in your death. I’ve already lost so much. I don’t want to lose you too.” 

He stares at me for a little longer, before I lean in towards him, my eyes closing expectedly. Half a second later, his lips meet mine, warm and alive. He puts his other hand on my shoulder and gently pushes me back down onto the mattress of his bed. I run my free hand through his soft, green hair, gently tugging at the strands. The tip of his fang digs into my lip firmly, but not enough so that it hurts. The feel of his hands squeezes a low sigh out of me. 

I had been trying to work up the courage to tell him exactly how I feel. Granted, he most likely already knows thanks to his heightened senses and animal instincts, but Garfield once told me that knowing something is not the same as hearing it. Unfortunately, the monks never taught me how to express such feelings. Add that I have never told anyone else how I felt before, and expressing my own emotions is hard enough. 

I gently push at his chest in a simple way to get him to stop. He pulls back, confusion painting his face, knowing that he had not crossed any new lines. 

“What’s wrong?” Garfield predictably asks. 

I look into his shining emerald eyes, eyes that reveal all the love he feels, and a part of me still can’t quite believe that all of that love, all of that affection, is aimed at me. 

And that I reciprocate those feelings. 

“Garfield, I…” I start to say, unsure of how to proceed. Licking my lips, I try to continue, albeit rather softly. 

“I love you.” 

Garfield jerks back in surprise. In that moment, about a half dozen emotions flicker across his face. Confusion, disbelief, skepticism, hope, joy, amazement, and finally, pure affection. A smile starts to spread across his face. 

“You…you love me?” He asks, still somewhat disbelieving. 

Of all the times that Garfield has said that he loves me, I have not said the same. Always an “I know”. Never the real thing. I have, of course, revealed that my feelings for him are very strong, but I never outright told him that I loved him. 

I nod softly. “I love you,” I repeat. “I know your feelings. I can feel them. I know what they mean. And I want you to know that I wholeheartedly reciprocate them with every fiber of my being.” 

He moves so that his forearms rest on either side of my head, putting his face closer to mine. “But all those other times when you said that you didn’t want me in your life…did you still love me back then?” 

“I told you before that I pushed you away because I knew what I felt. But after running from my own emotions for the duration of my life, when I realized my feelings for you, my first instinct was to run. I made myself believe that it was for your own safety,” I tell him quietly. 

He squints down at me. “So…all this time, all the back and forth, you loved me the whole time?” 

I nod, reaching up to cup his face in my hand. “I love you. I’m in love with you. But with the nature of my powers and heritage, I thought it would be too dangerous to ever let myself indulge in those feelings.” 

“Raven,” he sighed, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “I am well aware of the dangers of being with you. I know what your father could do with me. But I don’t care. I am so hopelessly in love with you that I just don’t care. I’m too far gone down this path to ever come back from it.” 

The corner of his lip twists upwards. “I don’t quite know how I roped you back in after all the things we’ve been through, but I swear, I am never going to stop loving you. Ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What?! I’m back? Wow, my writer’s block has been so long. I’m sorry that I’ve been taking so long. I probably won’t be updating as much, since not only am I revising my first work, Keep Me In You Memory, but I am also writing a new piece, so it might be a while before I update this again. Thanks for all your support!!!


	10. Night Terrors

Garfield knew the dangers of being with a half-demon. He knew just how easily her father could rise up from the depths of Hell and smite him on the spot for the ultimate crime of teaching his daughter to love. He knew how she herself could do all that anyway. 

But Gar didn’t mind. A piece of him inside — the part that longed for a companion — craved love and affection from someone who would love him for who he was, not what he bright to the table. After years and years of searching, years of being taken advantage of for his status or his immense inheritance, he believed he found the one that he hoped would be in his life for as long as he lived, and heal the scars etched onto his heart from previous heartbreaks. 

The powerful half-demoness laid in his arms, her body curving into his, craving his body heat, and her head was placed just over his heart, listening to the strong heartbeat of the man she loved, even in sleep. Her scent permeated through the air and he breathed in the smell of vanilla and lavender that was unique to her. His favorite part of her scent was that if he concentrated his senses enough, he could even smell a hint of himself on her. 

Raven slept peacefully in Garfield’s arms, curled up to him, one hand absentmindedly in his hair. Smiling at his fianceé, Garfield craned his head enough to plant a sweet kiss on her petal-soft lips. Pulling her closer to him, he drifted into a dreamless sleep. 

He awoke early at the soft movements of the young woman in his arms. At first, he thought she was simply readjusting her position, since a glance at the digital clock on the nightstand read only 2:37 in the morning, but when it happened again, this time accompanied by a soft, nearly impossible-to-hear whimper, Gar realized what was happening. 

Raven frequently had nightmares throughout her life, most having to do with falling to the dark impulses of her other half and killing everyone she cared about, bringing Armageddon to the world and murdering everyone in her way. There was no way to stop the nightmares from happening, and he could not simply wake her up from the night terrors. Each night filled with visions of a dead and burning Earth had to run its course, whereupon ending Raven would wake up, hyperventilating and crying out for Garfield, fearing that the visions were true, and that her soon-to-be husband was ripped so callously from her life when she had finally found happiness. 

Gar shifted in the king-sized bed, holding her small body in his strong arms as the nightmarish visions continued to plague his beloved. He whispered quietly in her ear, hoping the loving words would reach her troubled subconscious, and that she would wake up to find herself cradled in his arms, in the dark room they both shared in the Tower. That there were no demons out for his blood, no dark shadows slowly torturing her friends until they begged for the mercy of death, no deep laughter coming from the depths of Hell that struck terror in her heart. 

Despite his best efforts, Raven’s struggling only grew worse, and this time, he could hear her moaning to herself in distress, calling his name, begging her invisible tormentor to take her instead, crying out incoherent words, and breaking into sobs that wracked her body. Gar felt a sharp sting in his heart watching her beautiful face twisting in torment and emotional agony. Unfortunately, there was nothing that he could do, and it pained him knowing that he was powerless to protect her from the all-too-real visions filled with death and suffering. 

Until finally, with a final, sharp cry of his name into the darkness, Raven bolted upright, breathing heavily with tears streaming down her face. She called him again, this time sounding feeble, and Gar wrapped his arms around her, pulling Raven closer to him, kissing her hair. 

“It’s okay, love, it was just a dream. It wasn’t real. I’m still here. It never happened. Shhhhh, it’s alright. Calm down, babe. I’m here. I’m alive,” he told her softly. 

Eventually the sobs wracking her body ceased, her body relaxing in his arms when she realized who was holding her so lovingly. Turning in his arms so that Raven was facing him, she let out a soft whimper and buried her tear-stained face in his chest, grasping at him desperately. 

“Gar,” she whispered in the dark to him. “Oh, Garfield…” 

He combed his fingers through her hair gently. “Babe? Do you need some time or do you want to talk about it?” He asked, his voice low and soothing to her ears. Half of the animals in his mind were panicking, sensing their mate’s inner conflict and fear. He took a deep breath to rein them in and continued. “Take your time, Raven. I’m here. I’m not leaving any time soon.” 

Silent cries still wracked across her body, and she took a shaky breath of air in an attempt to calm down. When she finally spoke, her voice was feeble and unsteady. 

“Just hold me…for a little while…” she said. 

He was more than happy to obey, though concern was still written all over his face. Gathering her closer in his arms, he nuzzled into the space between her neck and shoulder, breathing in her scent. Gar gently pressed a kiss to her temple, his arms wrapped around her like vines. She stroked the bare skin of his chest absentmindedly, her small frame still shaking in his arms. Garfield cooed soft and loving words in her ear all the while, combing his fingers through her hair. 

“Garfield,” she whimpered. “Oh, Garfield, I am so sorry…please don’t leave me alone again, I can’t lose you…” 

He moved a hand to her shoulder, adjusting the strap of her tank top, his fingers brushing gently against her velvet-like skin. “Never, babe. I’ll never leave you. Not if I can help it.” 

Raven shivered when he ran his calloused hands down her shoulders, the contrast of skin against skin still seeming relatively new to her, even though they had been together for almost three years. She leaned into the green man’s touch like a plant leans toward the sun, silently encouraging him to continue. 

His eyes, reflecting the dim light of the moon shining in from the window, glowed in the dark, his unnaturally emerald green eyes almost staring deep into her soul. Placing a hand on the side of her face, Garfield tipped his head to the side and kissed her gently. 

She let out a soft mewl against his lips, her hands clutching at his broad shoulders like she would lose him forever if she dared to let go. When Gar pulled back to breath, he noticed a small track of tears running down her face, and she wouldn’t look at him. Gar couldn’t help but let out a quiet whine; the animals beneath his psyche not understanding the severity of the situation, only recognizing that their mate was in distress. 

“Raven, love, it’s alright. I’m here for you. It was just a dream, none of it was real. He’s just trying to scare you into leaving.” He nuzzled her hair, breathing in the smell of her floral shampoo. 

“It almost always works,” the young woman in his arms rasped after a moment of silence. “Fear was always my greatest weakness…the only emotion I understood back then. He still preys on my insecurities and fears to this day, even at the bottom of the eighth pit of Hell. If he can’t have his only daughter rule the universe by his side, then he will destroy me instead. But first, just to break my will, he’d kill you in the most painful way possible and force me to watch as he refuses to give you mercy.” 

“I won’t let that happen. I won’t let him break you so easily. I promised you, Raven, and I’m not turning back on it now. I won’t leave you behind for anything in the world.” 

She pressed herself deeper into his embrace, moving the side of her head over his chest, hearing the strong beating of his heart, his chest rising and falling in tune with his breathing. 

“I know you won’t,” Raven whispered. 

A smile started to spread across his face as he held her in his arms. “Sleep,” he said. “And remember that I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” 

Raven moved her head to kiss him, and Gar melted into the kiss almost immediately. She kissed him slowly and languidly, and when she reluctantly pulled away, she stared into his brilliant eyes for a while longer, before nestling her head in the space between his neck and shoulder, breathing in his smell of pine trees and fresh rain. Gar wrapped his arms around her back and waist, the enticing pull of sleep beckoning him closer, but before he slipped into a peaceful sleep, he heard Raven’s soft voice in his ear. 

“I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, all! Thanks for reading! I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have any ideas to continue this, but because of school, I haven’t had the time that I would have liked to update periodically. I’m working on putting my ideas to paper, especially regarding my other works, but haven’t yet had as much motivation.
> 
> To all my readers, thank you for leaving kudos! I hope I’m not asking too much of you to leave a review or comment. Don’t be shy! I don’t bite through the computer screen!


	11. What It’s Like To Be Human

“Hey Gar? We gotta talk.” 

Gar looked up from his bowl of cereal to find Vic standing next to him. Although he didn’t have to wear clothes, since 95% of his body was cybernetic, his friend was wearing his favorite red sports jacket, one that made him look like a football coach. Though Vic normally didn’t visit the tower, a few hours after apprehending the ragtag members of Superman-Prime’s team, a few of the original Titans stopped by to help repair the damage done to the tower in the aftermath of the battle. 

He turned back to his cereal and said, “yeah, we can talk. What did you want to talk about?” 

Vic pulled the chair in front of him out, sitting down and turning to face Gar. “I wanted to talk about you…and Raven.” 

Gar stiffened visibly. These days, nobody ever talked about him and his ex-girlfriend in front of Gar, much less confront him about it. But since Vic was his friend, he would let it slide, just this once. 

For now. 

“Look, man…I don’t know how you haven’t noticed it by now, but you can just tell she still…has feelings for you. It’s so obvious that a blind man could see it. Talked to Tim the other day…even Bart sees it, man. And you know Bart is kinda slow on realizing things — ” 

“Well, who gave her this talk when I was the one tripping over my own feet just to get her to notice me?” Gar interrupted. 

Vic sighed, exasperated with his friend. “Gar, you know she’s emotionally stunted. She denies her emotions all the time. ’Sides, I think she did love you back then, it’s just that she thought it was better for you that she break your heart so no one would hurt you trying to get to her. Her brothers literally beat you to a bloody pulp when you tried to stop them from turning her. You think anybody would want their significant other to go through that? You can’t say you still don’t have feelings for her. Tim said that she seemed upset when you all came back from that Hindu dimension or whatever. She suspected you thought she was turning again when she attacked Solstice. And again when she “left her behind,” Vic said with air quotes. 

“Kiran’s just a kid, Vic. She reminded me of Power Boy…” 

“And Tara?” 

“Her clone, yeah. Too innocent about the world around them. So much more to learn.” 

“He also told me you went on a date yesterday night. With a civvie,” he continued. 

“Am I not allowed to move on?” Gar asked, the spoon clanking loudly against the ceramic bowl. 

“Not if you had a one-night stand with her two months ago.” 

Gar coughed in surprise, choking on the milk in the bowl. He coughed violently a few more times, Vic thumping his hand against his back to help, before he stopped coughing. Once Gar could speak again, he said, “what?” 

Vic scoffed. “Come on, man. If you’re gonna have a rendezvous after you’ve been cleared from quarantine, at least be quiet about it. And at least try to cover up all the hickeys.” 

Gar sighed. “Vic…that happened on the spur of the moment. Besides, she left for a month afterward. If she’d wanted to start over, she would’ve either stayed or came back sooner and didn’t pretend like nothing happened.” 

“Gar, you’re looking at this from a you perspective. She was probably confused as well, and dealt with it in the only way she knew she could — denying that it ever happened. You moved on, great. But she hasn’t ever moved on. It’s pretty clear that it hurts for her to be near you — you’re so close she could touch you, but she can’t. And it’s killing her, not being able to express that emotion. 

“Her feelings for you haven’t changed since you rescued her from that church four years ago. You have to admit it Gar. She still loves you. And deep down, someplace in your heart, maybe you do as well.” 

With that, Vic stood up and left the kitchen without another word, leaving Gar alone to his cereal and his thoughts. 

OoOoOoO 

Gar found her, sitting outside on the ledge of the wall overlooking Starfire’s garden, hood down and in the lotus position. He wasn’t sure if she had chosen the spot to meditate or to simply think, although knowing the quiet empath, it was probably a mix of both. Gar leaned on the wall next to her, watching her expression to see if she would give away any hint that she knew he was there. 

It was slightly breezy, and he caught a whiff of her scent in the air. Vanilla and lavendar. Something deep inside him stirred, and he had to resist the sudden urge to run his fingers through her jet-black hair. 

“Hello Gar,” she greeted him, her voice in its signature rasp. He smelled a change in her scent, telling him that her body was releasing dopamine. 

“Hey, Rave,” Gar replied, his voice surprisingly soft. He didn’t even realize he had used his own nickname for her until her face twitched in surprise. 

Am I doing this? He asked himself. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and thought, yeah, I’m doing this. 

“Hey, uh…you okay? I know Headcase did a number on you…” he paused, racking his brain for what to say to her. “…but ever since Solstice came to the team, you’ve been more closed of than usual.” 

He expected her to say, I’m fine, or I’m doing well, thanks, but what she said next surprised him so much it threw him off what he was going to say. 

“It started long before that, Gar. I’ve been suppressing my emotions for years. Fearing what darkness dwelled inside. But…it was my feelings for you that scared me most.” 

Vic was right, Gar thought suddenly. She does still have feelings for me. 

“Yeah.” Gar ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up in the process. “Yeah, it uh…it scared me too. I was…on a date tonight. She was fun and nice, but…all it did was make me think of you. And…us.” 

It was true. The woman he met last night, Gloria, was nice and didn’t seem to mind his unusual appearance, but throughout the entire date, Gar couldn’t help but compare her to the empath. Though he had gone back to the restaurant after the battle, and apologized for having to take the call, he didn’t bother to ask her on another date, nor had he any intention to. 

“I…am sorry. You should not be weighed down by my curse,” Raven replied. 

You can’t say you still don’t have feelings for her, Vic’s voice said in Gar’s head. She still loves you. And deep down, someplace in your heart, maybe you do as well. 

I do, Gar realized. I do still love her. Despite everything we’ve been through. I want to be there for her. 

Steeling himself, he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t escape that. I don’t want to.” 

Raven looked down, her hands in her lap. “And…I don’t want to reject the positive emotions in my life out of fear of the negative ones.” She looked up, her hand coming to the side of his face. “I must learn to take the good with the bad.” 

She’s touching me again, Gar realized. I remember those days where I used to touch her all the time… 

He gave her a warm smile. “It’s called being human, Raven. And I think you’ve worried enough about the bad. How about we focus on the good for a change?” 

She kissed him. 

Gar didn’t expect such a passionate response to his words. He always joked that he could charm his way out of any situation, but in this case, it looked as if it actually worked out. Her hand was sill on the side of his face, and Gar gave in to the urge to run his hand through her hair. He couldn’t help but notice how her lips were as soft as a rose petal, and his other hand came to rest at her hip. 

They separated far too early for Gar’s liking, and Raven looked surprised, like she didn’t quite believe she’d done that. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that,” the empath apologized, dropping her hands to her lap. 

“It’s fine,” Gar replied quickly. “I just…wasn’t expecting it, that was all.” 

Raven was quiet for a moment before Gar reached down and took her hand in his, the callouses of his palm contrasting the smooth skin of hers. He cracked a smile at her, before gently pressing his lips to the back of her hand, keeping his eyes on hers. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that for,” Raven whispered to him. 

Gar smiled. Me too. 

They sat in silence for a while longer, before Raven spoke up. “So…what is this? Are we…a thing now?” 

Gar shrugged. “If you want it to be. I’m willing to give this another try, as long as you are too. And I want it to be better than last time. No more beating around the bush, no more skirting around what we are versus what we aren’t. I don’t want what happened last time to happen again.” 

Raven nodded. “That seems only fair.” She leaned into him, laying her head against his chest, and Gar’s arms tightened around her. He didn’t know where this would lead them both, but for once, he was hopeful for a brighter future, one with her by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based off the ending scene of Teen Titans #100.


	12. Dysfunctional, Revised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A revised version of Dysfunctional.

“Hey Gar? We gotta talk.” 

Gar looked up from his bowl of cereal to find Vic standing next to him. Although he didn’t have to wear clothes, since 95% of his body was cybernetic, his friend was wearing his favorite red sports jacket, one that made him look like a football coach. Though Vic normally didn’t visit the tower, a few hours after apprehending the ragtag members of Superman-Prime’s team, a few of the original Titans stopped by to help repair the damage done to the tower in the aftermath of the battle. 

He turned back to his cereal and said, “yeah, we can talk. What did you want to talk about?” 

Vic pulled the chair in front of him out, sitting down and turning to face Gar. “I wanted to talk about you…and Raven.” 

Gar stiffened visibly. These days, nobody ever talked about him and his ex-girlfriend in front of Gar, much less confront him about it. But since Vic was his friend, he would let it slide, just this once. 

For now. 

“Look, man…I don’t know how you haven’t noticed it by now, but you can just tell she still…has feelings for you. It’s so obvious that a blind man could see it. Talked to Tim the other day…even Bart sees it, man. And you know Bart is kinda slow on realizing things — ” 

“Well, who gave her this talk when I was the one tripping over my own feet just to get her to notice me?” Gar interrupted. 

Vic sighed, exasperated with his friend. “Gar, you know she’s emotionally stunted. She denies her emotions all the time. ’Sides, I think she did love you back then, it’s just that she thought it was better for you that she break your heart so no one would hurt you trying to get to her. Her brothers literally beat you to a bloody pulp when you tried to stop them from turning her. You think anybody would want their significant other to go through that? You can’t say you still don’t have feelings for her. Tim said that she seemed upset when you all came back from that Hindu dimension or whatever. She suspected you thought she was turning again when she attacked Solstice. And again when she “left her behind,” Vic said with air quotes. 

“Kiran’s just a kid, Vic. She reminded me of Power Boy…” 

“And Tara?” 

“Her clone, yeah. Too innocent about the world around them. So much more to learn.” 

“He also told me you went on a date yesterday night. With a civvie,” he continued. 

“Am I not allowed to move on?” Gar asked, the spoon clanking loudly against the ceramic bowl. 

“Not if you had a one-night stand with her two months ago.” 

Gar coughed in surprise, choking on the milk in the bowl. He coughed violently a few more times, Vic thumping his hand against his back to help, before he stopped coughing. Once Gar could speak again, he said, “what?” 

Vic scoffed. “Come on, man. If you’re gonna have a rendezvous after you’ve been cleared from quarantine, at least be quiet about it. And at least try to cover up all the hickeys.” 

Gar sighed. “Vic…that happened on the spur of the moment. Besides, she left for a month afterward. If she’d wanted to start over, she would’ve either stayed or came back sooner and didn’t pretend like nothing happened.” 

“Gar, you’re looking at this from a you perspective. She was probably confused as well, and dealt with it in the only way she knew she could — denying that it ever happened. You moved on, great. But she hasn’t ever moved on. It’s pretty clear that it hurts for her to be near you — you’re so close she could touch you, but she can’t. And it’s killing her, not being able to express that emotion. 

“Her feelings for you haven’t changed since you rescued her from that church four years ago. You have to admit it Gar. She still loves you. And deep down, someplace in your heart, maybe you do as well.” 

With that, Vic stood up and left the kitchen without another word, leaving Gar alone to his cereal and his thoughts. 

OoOoOoO 

Gar found her, sitting outside on the ledge of the wall overlooking Starfire’s garden, hood down and in the lotus position. He wasn’t sure if she had chosen the spot to meditate or to simply think, although knowing the quiet empath, it was probably a mix of both. Gar leaned on the wall next to her, watching her expression to see if she would give away any hint that she knew he was there. 

It was slightly breezy, and he caught a whiff of her scent in the air. Vanilla and lavendar. Something deep inside him stirred, and he had to resist the sudden urge to run his fingers through her jet-black hair. 

“Hello Gar,” she greeted him, her voice in its signature rasp. He smelled a change in her scent, telling him that her body was releasing dopamine. 

“Hey, Rave,” Gar replied, his voice surprisingly soft. He didn’t even realize he had used his own nickname for her until her face twitched in surprise. 

Am I doing this? He asked himself. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and thought, yeah, I’m doing this. 

“Hey, uh…you okay? I know Headcase did a number on you…” he paused, racking his brain for what to say to her. “…but ever since Solstice came to the team, you’ve been more closed of than usual.” 

He expected her to say, I’m fine, or I’m doing well, thanks, but what she said next surprised him so much it threw him off what he was going to say. 

“It started long before that, Gar. I’ve been suppressing my emotions for years. Fearing what darkness dwelled inside. But…it was my feelings for you that scared me most.” 

Vic was right, Gar thought suddenly. She does still have feelings for me. 

“Yeah.” Gar ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up in the process. “Yeah, it uh…it scared me too. I was…on a date tonight. She was fun and nice, but…all it did was make me think of you. And…us.” 

It was true. The woman he met last night, Gloria, was nice and didn’t seem to mind his unusual appearance, but throughout the entire date, Gar couldn’t help but compare her to the empath. Though he had gone back to the restaurant after the battle, and apologized for having to take the call, he didn’t bother to ask her on another date, nor had he any intention to. 

“I…am sorry. You should not be weighed down by my curse,” Raven replied. 

You can’t say you still don’t have feelings for her, Vic’s voice said in Gar’s head. She still loves you. And deep down, someplace in your heart, maybe you do as well. 

I do, Gar realized. I do still love her. Despite everything we’ve been through. I want to be there for her. 

Steeling himself, he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t escape that. I don’t want to.” 

Raven looked down, her hands in her lap. “And…I don’t want to reject the positive emotions in my life out of fear of the negative ones.” She looked up, her hand coming to the side of his face. “I must learn to take the good with the bad.” 

She’s touching me again, Gar realized. I remember those days where I used to touch her all the time… 

He gave her a warm smile. “It’s called being human, Raven. And I think you’ve worried enough about the bad. How about we focus on the good for a change?” 

She kissed him. 

Gar didn’t expect such a passionate response to his words. He always joked that he could charm his way out of any situation, but in this case, it looked as if it actually worked out. Her hand was sill on the side of his face, and Gar gave in to the urge to run his hand through her hair. He couldn’t help but notice how her lips were as soft as a rose petal, and his other hand came to rest at her hip. 

They separated far too early for Gar’s liking, and Raven looked surprised, like she didn’t quite believe she’d done that. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that,” the empath apologized, dropping her hands to her lap. 

“It’s fine,” Gar replied quickly. “I just…wasn’t expecting it, that was all.” 

Raven was quiet for a moment before Gar reached down and took her hand in his, the callouses of his palm contrasting the smooth skin of hers. He cracked a smile at her, before gently pressing his lips to the back of her hand, keeping his eyes on hers. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that for,” Raven whispered to him. 

Gar smiled. Me too. 

They sat in silence for a while longer, before Raven spoke up. “So…what is this? Are we…a thing now?” 

Gar shrugged. “If you want it to be. I’m willing to give this another try, as long as you are too. And I want it to be better than last time. No more beating around the bush, no more skirting around what we are versus what we aren’t. I don’t want what happened last time to happen again.” 

Raven nodded. “That seems only fair.” She leaned into him, laying her head against his chest, and Gar’s arms tightened around her. He didn’t know where this would lead them both, but for once, he was hopeful for a brighter future, one with her by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I’m not even bothering to write notes.


End file.
